


See how I die

by riverwrenwrites



Series: TUA Creator's Bingo [8]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben is just vibing, I literally have no idea how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26797540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riverwrenwrites/pseuds/riverwrenwrites
Summary: TUA Creator's Bingo EntryPrompt Filled: PetIt's been a year since Ben died, and he's doing some contemplating with his newfound friend.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: TUA Creator's Bingo [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715587
Comments: 3
Kudos: 56





	See how I die

It was one year since Ben had died. One year since he’d opened his eyes and found himself staring down at his own bloodied corpse on the floor. One year since he’d watched the rest of his family fall apart. 

He wasn’t exactly sure what he’d expected from today. He’d thought that maybe Klaus, with his twisted sense of humour, might have bought him a card or something. At the very least he’d expected  _ some _ kind of acknowledgement of the day, but, so far, it had been a non-event. He hadn’t even  _ seen  _ him all morning, which usually meant he was getting himself into some kind of trouble. For a while Klaus had done his best to avoid him, unable to stomach the sight of him until he’d healed a little. Now, though, he was starting to look a little more like himself, and Klaus seemed to have begrudgingly accepted his company. 

It wasn’t so much that Ben  _ wanted  _ to spend the day with his brother, it was just nice having someone around that actually spoke back to him. But with Klaus nowhere to be found, he resigned himself to spending the day with his other companion, a white cat with mismatched blue and green eyes who had been following him for almost two months now. 

He wasn’t exactly sure  _ how  _ the cat had died. She was small, but not unhealthy looking, and she was  _ definitely  _ dead, so he named her Ghost. Klaus was never sober enough to see her, and in a selfish way Ben was glad, because it was nice having something that was just his. Something  _ tangible _ . She seemed just as pleased to have found someone who could pet her and play with her. For the first couple of weeks she would cry any time his attention was diverted, and wouldn’t stop until he went back to fussing her. Luckily, being a ghost, he had a lot of time to fuss her. 

Currently she was curled up in his lap, on the park bench he’d left Klaus sleeping on last night, purring loudly while he scratched a spot between her ears. 

“How long ago did you die?” He asked her, stroking the fur along her back. 

Ghost looked up at him blankly and he sniggered. 

“It’s okay, it was a rhetorical question. I know you don’t understand time.” 

Sighing, he leant back on the bench and looked up at the sky. There were storm clouds gathering in the distance. In the back of his mind he knew he’d have to find Klaus at some point and try to make sure he found somewhere sheltered to stay tonight, but right now he was content with sitting and watching the clouds drifting across the sky. 

It was a cold out today. At least, he assumed it was. He could see the wind blowing the tree branches, and the people bustling past on the street were wrapped up in thick coats and scarves. He never liked the cold when he was alive. The others used to make fun of him for wearing his coat whenever there was the slightest drop in temperature. But now, every day felt the same, never hot, never cold, just… nothingness, and he longed to feel the wind in his face and the chill in the air. 

He could feel Ghost. Her warm body on his lap felt strange after so many months not feeling anything. He found himself wondering whether he felt warm to her too, or if sitting on him felt no different to sitting on the bench. As if sensing his doubt, Ghost bumped her head against his hand and mewed at him, purring happily when he put his arms around her and went back to stroking her. 

“You’re real needy, you know that?” He said and she mewed in acknowledgement. “You’re just like the rest of my family. They all go crazy if nobody pays attention to them.”

Ghost responded by rolling onto her back, swiping at his hand like it was a toy. 

“I guess that’s just what happens when you live in a world where nobody can really see you, huh?” 

In an ideal world, he liked to believe that his siblings might have a chance to find some kind of normality now that they were away from home. That maybe, in some roundabout way, his death had given them a chance of freedom, rather than being the final nail in their family’s metaphorical coffin. Maybe that was why he didn’t mind so much that today was passing by without so much as a mention. 

Ghost hopped off his lap and he sat upright, watching as she sniffed around at his feet. 

“Where are you going?” He asked as she trotted across the street. 

“Talking to yourself again, Benny boy?” Klaus’ unmistakable voice piped up behind him, and Ben rolled his eyes as he sat on the bench next to him. “You know that’s the first sign of madness, right?”

“You would be the expert on that, I guess,” Ben said, watching a woman raising her eyebrow at Klaus as she walked past. “Where’ve you been?”

“Oh! Right! I went to get you something.”

Ben watched as he dug his hand into his coat and pulled out a “deepest sympathies” card, holding it up and grinning at him. 

“Happy anniversary,” He said, struggling to hold back a laugh. 

And Klaus’ twisted humour must have been rubbing off on him, because he found himself laughing too. 


End file.
